new to apistos

[moosefish]

Hi
I have decided to try and breed apistos. I purchased two pair of Apistogramma viejita . My water is quite hard so i purchased an Ro system. Any advice would be helpful and appreciated. I am using a twenty gallon for the viejitas. I also have a 55 gallon which I put 5 Apistogramma cactuoides Orange in. i am not trying to breed them as much as the viejitas. Should I get my chinese algae eater and cory catfish out of the tank? Again any help would be appreciated. Also if anyone is near NY state I found a good place to purchase apistos cheap. Thanks, Mark.

 

[Mike Wise]

If you are trying to breed 2 pairs of A. viejita in one 20 gallon tank, then you are probably going to have problems. It is much too small for such a territorial species. Other bottom dwelling fish should be removed from a tank with breeding apistos. I personally consider Chinese Algea Eaters a terrible fish for both community & breeding tanks. They don't eat much algae and, as they age become very agressive. I had one attach itself to the head of a cory cat.

 

[moosefish]

harem

Actually somebody gave me an idea---start with a pair and see if one male taakes charge and if so move the less dominant male out. is this feasible?

 

[Mike Wise]

Yes, this most likely is possible, but keep an eye on the females, too. A brooding female may not like having another female (or the male for that matter) in the tank with her fry.

 

[moosefish]

when can i expect the fish to start breeding. What signs will they exhibit?

 

[javoski]

The female will become yellow

 

[moosefish]

anything else?

So far the fish are doing well and growing. there seems to be one dominant male. he chase the other female. his female is yellow and hanging out in her cave. I went and bought a 50% acetinic blue light. I read an article that apistos don't care for bright light. Do they need live food like blackworms? I feed them bloodworms and spiriluina brine shrimp (frozen). they don't seem to like mysis shrimp. Am I missing anything?

 

[moosefish]

peat ?

oh yeah. using ro water and peat I have the PH down to about 6.5. How long do I keep the peat in the water?

 

[STOKER]

Peat

Hi Moosefish

If you use the method that I have used for years and make peaty water there is no need to leave the peat in the tank unless you use it as a substrate.
The way I do it is in the Husbandry/Breeding forum .
Used this method for years and it works with no problem ,after all why not use peaty water to do your water changes and at least you know that its the same all the time.


Stoker

 

[Liakern]

peaty water???

how much does the RO unit cost and were do you get it?
can a deionizer for water work aswell as a R.O. system?

Is "peaty water" water's ph that is lowered using peat moss?
is this a better way to lower ph as aposed to "ph down" from API?
Doesnt peat make water murky?

 

[STOKER]

peaty water

If anyone is interested in the way to alter water chemistry suggest that they read this link

fins.actwin.com/mirror/begin-cycling.html

Just paste into your search engine and read through the pages , mentioned is how peat is used to alter ph

There are many pages but a lot of this information is relevent to Apistos water requirements

Stoker

 

[Griz]

Nice link. I haven't run across that one before.

 

[STOKER]

Link on water conditions

Hi GRIZ,

Its a lot easier to do it that way than try to explain what is happening , should be read by all if there is any problem waterwise . Most of whats there is easily applied witn a bit of thought , as long as you take your time in doing any changes to water conditions it works out.

remember reading years ago to reduce carbonate hardnees to boil water let cool then syphon off leaving the last couple of inches , as in theory the carbonate is left at the bottom . This works only have to make a "U" shaped tube with lower end about 2 inches high this leaves the crap that is not wanted , takes a long time to get a few gallons though .

stoker

 

[moosefish]

ro unit

I got the ro unit from fosters and smith. It cost me about $125. you can get them cheaper. this is a four stage one that has a deionizer. I have really hard water so that is why I bought ro unit. I don't put ro water in with my central american cichlids. The water is not murky from peat but is a little dark or reddish.

 

[STOKER]

I got the ro unit from fosters and smith. It cost me about $125. you can get them cheaper. this is a four stage one that has a deionizer. I have really hard water so that is why I bought ro unit. I don't put ro water in with my central american cichlids. The water is not murky from peat but is a little dark or reddish.

Hi Moosefish

That`s the way that peat acts on water, it turns as you say a little dark or reddish , this is due to the TANNINs that the peat contain and you might say that it is blackwater..The blackwater tonic that is on the market is just a concentrated form of this. Cheaper this way and works the same way. If your water changes are done using this water there is no need to add extras to your tank . After all killiefish and to a certain extent discus breeders have used this method for years with no problems.

Mike

 

[moosefish]

no babies

Its been three months and still no babies. one female is still yellow. there is definetly a dominant male and female. Should I use egg crate and divide the tank or remove the non domimant male and female. It is only a twenty gallon tank.

 

[Mike Wise]

Remove one of the pairs completely. A 24x12" bottom is about the minimum for the typical macmasteri-group species.